WASHINGTON – Orbital ATK has won a $23.6 million contract to launch a small space-surveillance satellite for the U.S. Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space Office aboard a Minotaur 4 rocket in 2017.

Orbital ATK will launch the satellite from Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, according to a spokeswoman at the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center.

The launch will mark the first for a Minotaur rocket, a vehicle based in part on excess missile hardware, from Cape Canaveral and the first from that particular pad since 1999.

Dulles, Virginia 14 July 2015 – Orbital ATK, Inc. (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, received a $23.6M contract from the U.S. Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office to launch the ORS-5 SensorSat spacecraft in mid-2017, using a rocket from the company’s Minotaur Launch Vehicle Family.

The ORS-5 mission will employ an Orbital ATK Minotaur IV rocket lifting off from Launch Complex-46, operated by Space Florida at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This will be the first time a Minotaur vehicle will have flown from this range.

“Launching from the Cape adds another capability to our program and brings us to four ranges from which Minotaur can launch,” said Rich Straka, Vice President and General Manager of Orbital ATK’s Launch Vehicles Division. “This flexibility and multiple vehicle configurations enables Minotaur launch vehicles to be tailored to meet mission requirements while offering the lowest cost flight-proven launch vehicles available to the U.S. government.”

This Minotaur IV rocket uses retired Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Peacekeeper boosters for the first three stages and Orbital ATK Orion 38 solid rocket motors for the upper stages. Orbital ATK integrates the vehicle using flight-proven avionics, structures, software and other components that are common among Orbital ATK’s space launch vehicles.

Using a launch vehicle comprised of solid rocket motors requires minimal pad infrastructure, which helps lower mission costs. The team will integrate the final launch vehicle using the Orbital ATK team at the Cape with a team comprised of employees from both Orbital and ATK heritage companies.

“This is a prime example of where the synergies from the Orbital ATK merger are providing real benefits to our customers, by being able to deploy one launch team that possesses expertise from critical propulsion and avionics subsystems, to the full systems engineering understanding of the vehicle,” said Scott Lehr, President of Orbital ATK’s Flight Systems Group.

The award was won as a competitive commercial launch contract for the Operationally Responsive Space Office and will be licensed by the FAA.

The Minotaur family of vehicles has carried out 25 consecutive launches with a 100% mission success record and has placed a total of 74 satellites into orbit. Employing a combination of U.S. government-supplied rocket motors and Orbital ATK's proven commercial launch technologies provides incredible cost-savings for government payloads, enables the U.S. to compete with other countries who use their retired assets for commercial launch and keeps a critical skilled workforce employed.

The Space Florida Board of Directors last week approved a plan to allow Orbital ATK to use Launch Complex 46 (SLC-46) at Cape Canaveral for Minotaur launches. The board instructed staff members to complete negotiations and enter into a contract with the Virginia-based company.

The board’s approval clears the way for Orbital ATK to launch the U.S. Air Force’s Office of Operationally Responsive Space’s ORS-5 SensorSat spacecraft in mid-2017.

And this is a good reminder that just because one of your fellow space enthusiasts occasionally voices doubts about the SpaceX schedule announcements or is cautious about believing SpaceX has licked a problem before actually seeing proof that's true, it doesn't mean they hate SpaceX.

oooh, I assume they'll launch Minotaurs out of there eventually? I wonder what will happen to the Minotaur pad at Wallops

They have a contract for a launch from there later this year, ORS-5; the payload needs to go to an equatorial orbit, which isn't doable from Wallops. Probably they'll keep it open for other near-equatorial missions, but it's doubtful it'll effect Wallops operations.